A new in-depth human rights report released by Maplecroft, a risk intelligence and rating company, notes that terrorist attacks, kidnappings and complicity in human rights violations by security services constitute primary risks for investors and businesses in Algeria.
As one of the ‘African Lions,’ a term coined to describe the continent’s strongest economies, Algeria is currently attracting foreign investment and is projected by the IMF to grow at 4.6 per cent over the course of 2010. However, business operating within the country is vulnerable to human security risks.
“Algeria continues to experience attacks by militant Islamists, the strongest and most dangerous of which is al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group poses a direct security risk to Westerners and other foreigners in the country and is responsible for targeting the assets of foreign companies,” Maplecroft said.
Two major incidents in 2009 illustrate the risks posed by AQIM. In October 2009, six private security guards working for Canadian engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin were killed during an ambush in the Kabylie region, east of Algiers. Whilst in June 2009, gunmen ambushed an Algerian security convoy escorting Chinese construction workers to a high-profile public works project in the Bordj Bou Arreridj province. At least 18 policemen and one Chinese worker were killed.
"Foreign companies, especially within the oil and gas industries, should be aware that the targeting of business interests constitutes one of AQIM’s key objectives. In a July 2008 interview with the New York Times, AQIM leader, Abdelmalek Droukdal, stated that AQIM would target US commercial interests – in particular those that seek to control the region’s energy riches," Maplecroft said.
AQIM’s threat to security in Algeria is reflected in the government’s claims that its security forces killed, injured or arrested an estimated 1,300 suspected terrorists in 2009. The total number of deaths in Algeria as a result of terrorism-related conflict amounted to 804 in the same year, according to government figures.
“Kidnappings, particularly of foreigners, have proven to be a popular tool through which AQIM has sought to finance its operations (releasing hostages for ransom payments). It has also used kidnappings to secure the release of prisoners and gain the attention of the international media,” Maplecroft said.
“Once again, SNC-Lavalin was targeted in January 2010, when an Algerian engineer working for the company was kidnapped in Djebahia, 120km from Algiers. In March 2010, AQIM was implicated in another incident when Algerian security forces announced that they were investigating the disappearance of an Israeli national approximately 800 kilometres south of the capital in the oil-rich city of Hassi Messaoud. Algeria is rated extreme risk in Maplecroft’s Kidnapping Index, where it is ranked 13 out of 196 countries,” it added.
According to the report, firms operating in Algeria also face the risk of association with past and present human rights violations committed by members of the security forces. Companies risk complicity in violations committed by state security forces and former members of the military and police who are employed as private contractors to protect staff and assets. Both private and state security forces may have been involved in egregious human rights violations, including disappearances, torture and killing of civilians during, or after, Algeria’s civil war (1992 – 2002). Companies must therefore take measures to reduce the risks of complicity with human rights abuses by security forces.
“While the number of human rights violations committed by members of the security forces in the post-civil war period pale to those committed during the 1990s, impunity remains a problem. Reports of torture, arbitrary arrests and incommunicado detention by members of the security forces persist under the pretext of the fight against terrorism,” Maplecroft said.